Summarised by Centrist
Columnist Damien Grant says banks have evolved from titans of capitalism, like Mayer Rothschild and John Pierpoint Morgan, into massive bureaucratic beasts run by timid middle managers.
These folks now have the power to decide who gets to participate in commercial life.
Grant spotlights the BNZ’s decision to cut ties with Gloriavale due to its child labour practices. While many may applaud the moral stance, he argues that:
“Banking has become essential… If you don’t have a bank account you become a financial leper.”
He suggests that this makes banking services akin to hospitals—obligated to serve everyone, “regardless of the moral worth of the person on the gurney”.
Gloriavale, shunned by all other banks, struggles to survive economically without banking services.
“Being a libertarian, you might assume that I’d support the right of the bank to refuse services to anyone for any reason, and you’d be right if we lived in a libertarian paradise. But we don’t live in such a paradise,” writes Grant.
He writes that “The ability to participate in the commercial life of New Zealand should not depend on public opinion.”
